


There Was Only One Mat

by Inquartata (mackillian)



Series: Tessera [6]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Asari Yoga is Incredibly Suggestive, F/F, Misuse of Yoga, Mutual Pining, Thaia Uses the Word Fuck Like Punctuation, Unresolved Sexual Tension, tropes are awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 09:17:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17505848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mackillian/pseuds/Inquartata
Summary: Thaia tells Lexi that yoga doesn't look that hard. She shouldn't have. (Takes place sometime during the main events of Tessellation.)





	There Was Only One Mat

**Elaaden, 2819.**

It didn’t look so hard.

That was the first thought Thaia had when she exited the makeshift gym—the one she set up a while back after it’d become clear she wouldn’t have access to a real gym for a great long while—stumbled onto the tail-end of Lexi teaching a yoga class. Except they were in New Tuchanka and the class had consisted entirely of krogan.

Thaia hadn’t even known that krogan yoga _existed_. And it seemed like the kind of weird thing someone in her family would've mentioned, like that one time Eirian had overheard a krogan poet and hadn’t shut up about it for days. There’d also been that krogan caricature artist on Chalkhos that Thaia had bought a portrait of Kalros from and sent to her krogan uncle, Khel, who’d immediately burned it and asked what was wrong with her did she _want_ Kalros to eat her alive and if Kalros did he wouldn’t even be mad at Kalros. He’d be mad at _her_ and don’t ever fucking do that again.

Thaia had then promptly commissioned a portrait of Khel headbutting Kalros and sent it off and he’d tried to burn that, too. Aunt Jarah had intervened and from then on had displayed it in her office.

Still, yoga didn’t look so hard. Yoga in general had never looked to be a difficult activity. Maybe a little awkward, especially where krogan were concerned.

When the fuck had krogan developed their own yoga?

Which was of course the very first thing she said to Lexi after everyone else had gone.

“I invented it,” Lexi said as if inventing yoga for krogan was a thing one just did in the course of a day.

Which, to be fair, was something Lexi would do over the course of a day. And had. Because she’d just said it. And had just taught to a class of surprisingly enthusiastic krogan.

Thaia had never developed the skill to choose her questions wisely. She knew she should to avoid getting answers she’d more likely than not regret hearing, but she couldn’t _not ask_. 

“But why?” Thaia asked because she and common sense had never really seen eye to eye.

“More krogan anatomy.” Lexi tossed her water bottle next to the rolled-up yoga mat in her bag and then surveyed the scattered mats left behind by her krogan students.

“Because specialist in alien anatomy, obviously,” said Thaia. Surely Lexi wouldn’t torture her with any other reasons for wanting to explore krogan anatomy save for purely scientific reasons.

“Working with krogan anatomy.” Then she looked Thaia straight in the eye.

Thaia looked right back at her.

“In great depth and detail,” Lexi said so slowly and precisely that there was no mistaking what she actually meant and Thaia actually did not want her to mean.

Thaia made a strangled noise. She had krogan family members and there were things she didn’t want to associate with them, things such as reproductive anatomy and what they—nope. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt in an attempt to think of something else. Anything else.

It didn’t work. Though she did wonder if krogan laid eggs like salarians or had live births like asari. Not that Thaia would ask anyone, much less Lexi.

Because Lexi would answer. In. Excruciating. Detail. And revel in it while she was at it.

Revel in it like she was right now because Thaia hadn’t said a word in at least two minutes.

“If you’re going to be a nuisance,” Lexi said as she straightened her close-fitting t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants Thaia had never seen her wear before but wanted to see her wear again because _damn_ , “you can at least help me pick up these mats.”

Thaia wasn’t even talking because Lexi had rendered her speechless so how the fuck could she be a nuisance?

Found her words. “I’m not a nuisance.”

Fine, not the strongest of words, but they were words.

“If you help, you won’t be.”

Thaia rolled her eyes but did help because she wasn’t a fucking nuisance. She’d picked up all of three mats out of fifteen when she said, “Why do people need classes in yoga, anyway? It doesn’t look that hard.”

Lexi straightened. “It doesn’t look that hard?”

She’d said it so challengingly that Thaia might as well have insulted her skill as a doctor. Which Thaia would never do because:

One, that would be a lie.

Two, Thaia valued her life.

“Not really, no.”

Okay, so maybe she didn’t value her life _enough_ , but yoga did look easy. She’d gotten into more questionably flexible positions sneaking into Armali’s home field stands during the decades she’d been banned. In her defense, she’d only done that for playoff games and it’d served as good practice on stealth for her apprentice commando self. She’d gotten caught once not on purpose, but that’d been after a game and then she and the cop had gone under the surprisingly low stands and that had really tested her flexibility. And the cop’s.

Turned out they were both _very_ flexible.

After that near-disaster-turned-escapade, Thaia had accidentally-on-purpose gotten caught on several more occasions by that same cop.

Lexi stacked the mats she’d been carrying on the ground. Then she took the dark grey one off the top, rolled it out, and then swept her arm toward it. “If you think it’s that easy, let’s see it.”

Thaia’s mind did its best to warn her that this was somehow a trap, but she had something to prove—that she was right. All yoga needed was flexibility and she had that in droves.

She also had a competitive streak as wide as the black hole in the middle of the cluster and hardheadedness to match. 

In other words, she wasn’t backing down.

“You’re on.” 

“While your warmup pants should provide you with enough stretch, you’ll still need to remove your shoes and sweatshirt before you begin,” said Lexi. “Then you can start with the poses that were in the group email.”

One arm out of her sweatshirt sleeve—ha, now she could show off her arms since she only had a short-sleeve, skin-tight Armali skyball shirt on beneath it, which meant she could put Lexi a little off her game—Thaia stopped to shoot her an incredulous look. “It wasn’t a prank? Because those were suggestive as fuck. I thought you were having me on.”

“Those were actual poses. If you can’t manage them due to their descriptions—”

“I can do them.” She set her shoes aside and sat down on the mat.

As Thaia called up the email and then read through the poses again—which were no less suggestive—the back of her mind tried to warn her yet again.

She ignored it. She wasn’t going to let Lexi get into her head and make her second guess herself.

The first thing she had to pretend she hadn’t read was the purpose of the poses: to open her hips and relieve tightness in the lower back. She mostly managed to pretend she hadn’t read that because if Lexi was involved in the ways she wished the two of them could be involved, Thaia wouldn’t need yoga to open her hips. Or to relieve tightness in her lower back.

It helped that the first pose was easy, like a regular stretch: 

 

> Standing, spread your legs apart, turning one foot outwards. Take a deep breath. On exhale, bend your torso towards the outward facing foot, until your hand meets your ankle. Hold for five seconds, then switch sides. 

Easy. Could even pretend she was readying for a skyball game. As a bonus, it wasn’t suggestive at all.

At least not until she could feel Lexi’s eyes on her. At least not until Lexi said, “I can see why it’s called Kurinth’s Bow,” with what sounded like genuine approval, but not about the _yoga_. “I think you should try Kurinth’s Arrow.”

“That wasn’t in the email.”

“You’re the one who said yoga was easy. For this one, lift the hand not touching the floor and straighten that arm to bring it parallel with the other. Your torso will need to twist and you’ll end up looking at the ceiling.”

Thaia did so, but she would swear to the goddess that she could _feel_ Lexi’s eyes on her. 

Appreciating.

If she could ever get off her back foot, she could work this to her advantage.

The yoga still wasn’t hard. A pyjak could do this if it developed an attention span.

Thaia said so out loud.

She should not have.

“Is that what you think?” Lexi’s tone seared and not in the good way. 

Thaia had lost count of how many times she’d double downed. Might as well keep the streak going. “Yes.”

“Then show me the second pose.”

That was the good sear _and_ the bad sear and Thaia’s body wrestled with her mind over how to respond. Body: impossibly turned on. Mind: fully oppositional. Herself as a whole: confused.

Thaia read the email again.

Fuck.

She should’ve thought this through. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do the pose, but it was actually _more_ suggestive than she remembered. 

But she’d said she could do it and she would.

What she hadn’t counted on was doing it wrong. 

Repeatedly.

“You’re supposed to bring your feet together until there’s a diamond of negative space between your legs,” said Lexi.

“The fuck does that even mean?” 

She shouldn’t have asked that.

With a sigh, Lexi retrieved her own mat—the _only_ non-krogan mat and Thaia had to admit to some jealousy—from her bag, rolled it out next to Thaia, and then showed her the entire pose. The whole pose, right there.

“First, you need to be lying on your back, which I assume you know but I’ll demonstrate in case something that simple has escaped you.” Lexi slowly settled into her back. “Then bring your feet together until there’s the diamond of negative space between your legs, like this.” 

It still looked simple, but at the same time, maybe if she squinted there was a diamond of negative space between Lexi’s legs but now all Thaia could think about was being in any negative space between Lexi’s legs and turning it positive.

Really positive.

She should’ve called an end to it there, but she wasn’t about to be defeated, either. Not by Lexi and definitely not by what her imagination wanted to be doing with Lexi.

Lexi went on as if this was an entirely normal situation. “Put your palms against the floor, and then push your hips forward.” Then Lexi did exactly that and Thaia couldn’t decide if she should regret this entire thing or not.

“But,” Lexi continued while holding the pose and Thaia wanted to be why Lexi held that particular pose but not for the current reason, “you need to be careful not to overextend yourself.”

Too late. Thaia’s imagination had leapt so far beyond overextended that childhood memories were less faded.

“All right, now you try,” said Lexi.

Well, Thaia wasn’t opposed to them swapping positions. Either way was fine with her, so—

Fuck.

Imagination. Running away. 

“If you’ve changed your mind about proving—”

“I haven’t!”

She should have. 

She should have because that ‘diamond of negative space’ still eluded her and Lexi abandoned her mat for Thaia’s in order to help.

‘Help’ by kneeling in front of her and then moving Thaia’s legs _for_ her into the optimal position to create that negative space.

Except Thaia wanted Lexi to be in that negative space and so Thaia had to avoid eye contact.

“There,” said Lexi. “Now place your palms against the mat and push your hips forward.”

But Lexi hadn’t moved.

And Thaia could think of other things Lexi could be doing that would’ve had Thaia lifting her hips and her hands on the—no, _twisting_ the sheets—

“Do I need to implement time limits for demonstrating mastery of each pose for this little contest or are you giving up?” asked Lexi.

Give up?

Althaia Fucking Kallistrate did not _give up_.

She placed her palms against the floor and pushed her fucking hips forward.

Somehow, she did it wrong.

Lexi gripped Thaia’s hips and yanked them toward her.

Thaia wanted to die.

She also wanted one of those deft hands to—

Fuck.

Well, exactly that.

To maybe-but-probably-not hide the fact that her cheeks were on fire because her _entire body_ was on fire, she dropped her head back on the mat. But she’d dropped it too fast on the thin mat with a hard as fuck stone floor beneath it and the tips of her crests protested the rough treatment. She winced.

Her brow furrowed in concern, Lexi’s straight-faced competitiveness disappeared for a fleeting moment. “Does this position hurt? Because we can stop. How are your hips?”

This position did hurt but not due to any strain on ligaments or muscles or tendons and her throat was dry and her words were starting to get jumbled in her head. But she couldn’t stay quiet. Lexi would take that as capitulation. Thaia lifted her head and spoke and hoped for the best. 

She didn’t manage best. She managed maybe a microscale short of worst and that was being generous.

“My hips are open.”

After she said that, she made the mistake of not looking away from Lexi.

“Are they?” Lexi asked, eyebrow raised.

Thaia needed to die. She went back to looking at the high ceiling above. Nice, boring plasteel.

Lexi did not let her die because Lexi had thrown her sense of mercy into a sinkhole. “What about your back?”

“I’m on it.”

“Yes, you are.”

Thaia wasn’t going to look, not even to glare, because that tone of voice was not what one used innocently. Not when it sent a hot tingle down Thaia’s spine.

Lexi continued to demonstrate her distinct lack of mercy. “I didn’t think you’d have problems with Tevura’s Embrace.”

That’d teach her to skip over the names.

Tevura’s Embrace.

_Goddess_.

Lexi went on. “You’re never going to get this right if you don’t relax.”

How the fuck was she supposed to relax? How could she be reasonably expected to relax with Lexi right there pressing down on her knees, trying to get her to splay her legs open to create that ‘diamond of negative space.’ Thaia would definitely just let Lexi have her—

Found her way to relax.

She just hoped Lexi wouldn’t ask what it was.

But reminding herself of what she’d do in this situation were the option available was the only way she could possibly relax for the time necessary to hold the pose.

Which she did.

“All right, now show me the Matriarch’s Pose.”

Another easy one.

Thaia imitated her grandmother by regally getting to her feet and regally standing there and regally pretending she knew everything.

Though, to be fair, it _had_ always seemed like Amma had known everything. If they’d discovered that Amma was omniscient, it wouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone.

“That isn’t the Matriarch’s Pose,” said Lexi.

“Yes, it is. You just never met my grandmother.”

“Would your grandmother approve of you losing?”

No, Amma would _not_.

Thaia grumbled and found the correct pose in the email.

 

> Kneeling, take a deep breath. On exhale, bring both hands together to form a triangle. On the second inhale, swing arms overhead and bend forward until your torso is between your thighs. Hold for three breaths, reaching farther with each exhale.

“I don’t think my torso can literally fit between my thighs.”

She could think of _people_ who could. One of whom was standing right there. Standing right there, a light sheen of sweat on her forehead, her normally grey eyes reflecting the reddish-amber of the hewn rock walls of the colony, those eyes narrowing in—shit, that might be irritation.

It was.

“Here, I’ll demonstrate. Make sure you watch, because I’m only going to show you once.”

Thaia wondered what it would take to be shown it more than once.

Or other things.

Behaving, probably. Which placed it right outside the realm of possibility.

The actual pose looked like Lexi was bowing down to a goddess.

Well, Thaia supposed she could bow down to a goddess, too.

This was getting out of hand. Maybe they should try another of those poses where _she_ looked like a goddess because Lexi had very much appreciated when Thaia had imitated Kurinth’s weapons. Not so incidentally, the ancient huntresses had been called Kurinth’s Weapons on many occasions.

However, she had to do this pose first. Which she did. Easy.

Which, again, she said out loud because Althaia Kallistrate was apparently the definition of ‘glutton for punishment’ and ‘see also: dumbass.’

“Easy.”

“If you’re so confident, let’s move on to something more difficult. I’ll demonstrate each pose and then you reproduce it.”

If Thaia knew what was healthy for her, she knew she should never, ever associate Lexi with reproduction.

And yet, here she was.

Fuck.

Or not, which really was the whole problem right there.

However, she wasn’t going to lose this competition, either. Thaia was a commando and she wouldn’t be outdone by a doctor in a purely physical contest.

“Bring it, T’Perro. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Lexi brought it.

Initially, Thaia kept up. Pania’s Awakening turned out to be basically bending forward at the hips and folding all the way over until she could grab her ankles. The hardest part was not staring at Lexi’s ass when she demonstrated the pose because it _really_ accentuated those glorious curves. Then Lexi moved into what she called ‘Lucen’s Split.’ It was like another stretch, starting from Pania’s Awakening, but placing her hands flat on the floor just in front of her feet and, as she bent over further, raising one of her legs in a split.

Thaia could get her leg higher than Lexi’s, surely.

“The focus,” Lexi said while holding the pose so close to Thaia that she could feel the heat radiating from her skin, “is supposed to be on the stretch in your legs, not how wide of a split you can do.”

“Maybe for you.”

“Janiri’s Rapture it is, then.”

Janiri’s Rapture sounded as suggestive as Tevura’s Embrace. Probably what happened after Janiri experienced said embrace.

Probably what would happen if Thaia experienced Lexi’s embrace.

Or the other way around.

“Are you paying attention?” asked Lexi, all sharp and pointed.

“Of course I am.”

Rapt attention, in fact.

“Good, because I’m not going to go slowly.”

Thaia was fine with fast the first time. In her experiences with sex, it usually had the better payoff in the long run if the longing had been there long enough.

Really, just too fucking long in this case.

Except this was yoga and the same reasoning did not apply.

As Thaia watched attentively, Lexi went from a triangle-looking pose to propped up on a straight arm, both feet on the ground but one leg out mostly straight and the other leg bent at the knee. Then she twisted herself around so that her tits were _really_ prominent, but she’d also flung her head back and her other arm over it and…

Actually, it did kind of look like she was in some sort of rapture.

If ever given the consent, Thaia wondered what she could do that’d get the same reaction from Lexi.

It was nice to have goals. Better would be meeting or exceeding them.

“Your turn,” said Lexi.

Thaia looked between herself, seated cross-legged on her mat, and Lexi, still in that rapture pose on her own mat, and then tried really hard to _not_ look directly at Lexi’s tits but they were right fucking there. 

This wasn’t fair.

“Do you need me to talk you through it?” asked Lexi.

“On a scale of ‘walk it off’ to ‘even the eminent Dr. Lexi T’Perro can’t fix this,’ how badly could I get injured if I fuck up the way to get into that pose?”

There it was. Lexi blushed and Thaia knew she fucking saw it and it wasn’t because of the yoga. She blushed whenever Thaia used her title and her full name, which Thaia knew because she still tested it from time to time.

Sure, Lexi was approximately a million kilometers ahead of her in the ‘making her best friend blush’ competition, but whatever. Some weapons still worked.

Also she had no idea how to get into that pose without twisting her spine in ways spines weren’t meant to be twisted.

“Let’s not risk it,” said Lexi, who went back to the triangle pose and then returned to a sitting position like Thaia was in. “The first thing you need to do is get into Kralla’s Bridge.”

“Is that the triangle thing? The one where you have—”

“Yes.”

“Yes, it’s the one where you have your ass in the air?”

“It will be your ass in the air if you want to stand a chance at winning.”

Thaia got right into Kralla’s Bridge.

“Now what?” she asked, looking at Lexi upside down and through her legs because Lexi had moved and was now standing behind her.

How convenient.

“Give me a moment,” said Lexi. 

So she _was_ taking advantage of her perspective. Time to call someone else out for once. “Are you checking out my ass?”

“Wouldn’t you?”

This time, Thaia raised an eyebrow. “Mine or yours?”

“Either.”

“Then yes. But you were the one going on about time limits. I mean, if you want to trade time checking out my ass for me winning, I’m all for it.”

“I’m not letting you win.”

“Hey, ogling my ass is _always_ a win.”

After another pause, Lexi said, “We’ll resume our contest.”

Holding in a laugh made holding Kralla’s Bridge surprisingly difficult. “You didn’t disagree about my ass.”

“Now,” Lexi said, sharper than before yet still not disagreeing about the winning condition of Thaia’s ass, “shift your weight to your right hand and the outer edge of your right foot.”

Thaia did so. Easy.

“Inhale and then lift your hips like they’re floating in water.”

Still not hard.

“Then claw at the mat with the fingers of your right hand.”

“Do _what_?”

“Claw at the mat with your right hand.”

“There’s no way you aren’t making this shit up just to fuck with me.”

“You said it wasn’t hard. The descriptions shouldn’t matter. Only your ability to get into the poses.”

Claw at the fucking mat like a hand twisting in _sheets_ and _no_ she wasn’t going to let Lexi win.

She clawed at the mat. Like she would sheets. Or like she’d get Lexi to—goddess, this entire incident was heading into backfire territory.

Might’ve started there, actually.

“Keep your elbow up,” said Lexi. “Exhale and bring your left foot back a step. Toes on the mat, knee partially bent. Keep your right foot down on the mat.”

After Thaia finished positioning her feet, Lexi went on. “Twist your torso around in a sweeping motion so that you’re looking at the ceiling. Then, lift your hips, fling your left arm over your head, and let your head fall back in rapture.”

“There’s a spot on the ceiling that looks kind of like Kalros if you tilt your head a bit,” Thaia said, now in the pose and not feeling like she was in any kind of rapture. Mostly tense, because she was in a ridiculous position and because Lexi was in front of her. Behind her? She was all twisted up so it was hard to tell. Also she couldn’t see Lexi because her own fucking tits were in the way. 

She hoped Lexi was getting a good eyeful. Maybe that’d throw her off her game. Which, really, was Thaia’s only hope at that point aside from sheer determination.

“You did better with that pose than I thought you would,” Lexi said after a suspiciously long moment.

“You mean it looks better on me than you thought it would.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

Thaia would’ve glared but she was pretty sure to manage it she’d have to break her neck. So she scowled at the ceiling. 

“Are you ready for the next one?” asked Lexi.

Oh, another chance for her to show off. Thaia pushed off the floor with her right arm and her legs and used her core strength to propel herself upward and land silently on her feet directly in front of Lexi.

“Ready,” said Thaia. She wasn’t even breathing hard.

Lexi might’ve been, though. Her lips parted slightly—for an instant, but Thaia saw it.

Then Lexi’s straight face returned, like she hadn’t had a lapse in control.

But she _had_.

“This is called the Glowfly Pose.” Entirely composed, Lexi went into the—

“That’s Pania’s Awakening!” Thaia said way too excitedly because she’d remembered it and learned it and… well, she’d take the pleased smile she got from Lexi in return _anytime._

“It is.”

Then Thaia couldn’t help returning the smile and considering actual cooperation and _goddess_ she probably looked like an idiot. She tried to cover it up by getting into the pose. “Okay, get into Pania—”

Lexi raised an eyebrow.

Thaia glared, any thoughts about cooperation gone. “What’s the next step, T’Perro?”

She demonstrated as she explained. “Spread your feet to a little less than shoulder width apart and then slowly lower yourself into a squat.”

Thaia diligently copied Lexi’s admittedly graceful movements.

Lexi nodded. “Good. Now, from this position, bring your torso between your legs. Keep it low while lifting your pelvis to about knee height.”

Honestly, Thaia hadn’t thought Lexi was _this_ flexible and it gave her ideas at a time when she really, really didn’t need more ideas. She had too many as it was.

She concentrated on her movement. Then she realized she needed to concentrate on Lexi’s unless she wanted to lose.

Which she did fucking not.

“Bring your upper left arm and shoulder beneath your left thigh, and place your left hand with your fingers spread wide next to your foot,” Lexi said as she did exactly that. “Then do the same with your right side, essentially collapsing your shoulders forward. After, shift your center of gravity, using your arms to support your body as you move your weight from your feet to your hands and then lift your body. Straighten your legs as far as you can, and you’ll be in the Glowfly Pose.”

As Lexi was.

And Thaia was not.

Because this was now physically unfair as fuck. “You have,” Thaia said, straining as she tried to cram her shoulder into the position Lexi had instructed and then done so easily but Thaia’s shoulder was as cooperative as a cornered pyjak, “an advantage. You have _normal_ shoulders and mine are annoyingly _broad_ so it’s way harder for me to collapse mine into—”

“We should stop,” said Lexi, serious enough that it softened her tone.

Hard to stop something they hadn’t even started. Also, Thaia wasn’t going to lose and this could easily be a trap because Lexi was devious and would use anything to her advantage. There was no way Lexi wasn’t _killer_ at Fire-breathing Thresher Maws of Doom.

Thaia narrowed her eyes as she strained a bit more to see Lexi past her leg. “Why?”

“Your shoulder.” Lexi released her pose and sat up. “The one that was dislocated relatively recently.”

“Dislocating it might make this easier. Hurt a lot more, though.”

“We’re trying to _avoid_ another dislocation.”

“Maybe you are. I’m trying to make sure I win. If I stop now, you win. So, if you had confidence in your ability as a doctor—”

“Are you insulting my skills?”

“No. I’m saying that I’m not willing to lose on a technicality. Meaning, I have more confidence in your medical skills than you since I’m fine with continuing because I have confidence in my shoulder’s stability.”

“What about the rest?”

“The rest of what?”

Lexi reached out and use one finger to poke Thaia on the upper arm. “Your stability.”

Thaia tipped over and crashed onto the mat, where she stayed, limbs in positions she’d never had them in before and with her unsure how to untangle them.

So she just stayed on her right side on the mat and glared at Lexi because she’d pushed her over and that was cheating if there was ever cheating.

Lexi, sitting just centimeters from her, crossed her arms as her lips pressed together in a straight line and her brows leveled. Not a glare. The doctor’s straight face.

Thaia wanted to believe she wouldn’t lose this one either, but she and the ability to keep a straight face were passing acquaintances at best. 

She tried, though.

Lasted about ten seconds before she burst into laughter. When, still smiling, she looked at Lexi again, she found Lexi watching her openly, the corner of her mouth curling into a smile. Her hand reached out and gently grasped Thaia’s arm. “Let’s extricate you from this tangle of your own making.”

“I was following _your_ directions.” Thaia allowed Lexi to rearrange her limbs into normal positions. Except it wasn’t normal because even though Thaia had extended her legs along the length of the mat and propped herself on an elbow, Lexi was still sitting only centimeters away, leaning toward her, a hand still on Thaia’s arm. Thaia did her best to ignore it and how her heartbeat sped right the fuck up. “And it was your cheating that got me into that heap, so don’t even think about declaring victory for yourself.”

“It wasn’t cheating. It was getting you to stop before you injured yourself.”

“Right.”

“We’ll continue this contest after you’re able to safely get into and hold that pose. No competition is worth injury.”

“Skyball,” Thaia said pointedly.

“Some of us were able to avoid injury when we played.”

She rolled her eyes. This was easier, though her heart hadn’t slowed the fuck down and her skin burned beneath Lexi’s palm. “Some of us were often targeted.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

“Something along the lines of talk shit, get hit. My sisters had the same problem when they played.”

Lexi leaned toward her, one hand still on Thaia’s arm and the other braced on the mat. “You realize,” she said, her silken tone drawing Thaia in, “you could have provoked the opposing team without resorting to talking shit.”

“Yeah, but consider this,” Thaia said as she leaned even closer to push her own argument, “I’m _really_ good at talking shit.”

“Too good, at times.” 

The catchlights in Lexi’s eyes had become electric and Thaia forgot to breathe.

So had Lexi.

And they really weren’t that far apart. And Lexi wasn’t looking away, either, fingers tightening on Thaia’s arm as the distance between them closed. And her head was at just the right angle for Thaia to—

The door slammed open and Vorn’s shout followed right after: “I heard you were teaching yoga! Krogan yoga! I had to see it for myself.”

Thaia’s breathing returned as she rolled onto her back, catching her breath as she looked at the spot on the ceiling that looked like Kalros and tried not to be pissed at Vorn.

“You just missed it,” said Lexi, her voice a little shaky before it gained strength enough to return to normal. “I’ll be teaching another tomorrow, if you’d like to attend.”

“I would! Kesh’ll be around, too. I bet she’d like to give it a try.”

Thaia jumped to her feet and grabbed her shoes. She could retrieve her sweatshirt later, when it was safe. “You two work out the details. I’m going to go find something to do.”

Her whole body felt like it would ignite and she desperately needed a cold shower. Really cold. As in shouting curses at cold for even existing cold.

She left without waiting for a response and only put her shoes back on when out of shouting distance. But when she neared Vel’s bar, she remembered that she was on Elaaden and cold showers did not exist on this fucking planet.

“Fuck.” Then she stood there, wondering what the fuck else she could do. 

“What’s with you?” Drack asked from the end of the bar.

“I need to go shoot things,” she said after a moment. “Or blow things up. Or both. Both.” Her hardsuit and weapons were secured in her tiny room. Easy to retrieve. And then go shoot things.

Never one to turn down the opportunity to shoot shit, Drack straightened and checked for the shotgun on his back. “Who got under your crest?”

“No one.” Which was the problem, really, if the phrase was taken the other way.

Drack took a second to study her. Then he laughed. “You need to get laid.”

“I _know_.” But that wasn’t going to happen and here she was. “Are you going to go out with me or not? If you are, you’ve got the seven minutes it’ll take me to put my armor on to meet me outside.”

“Yeah, I’ll go. Not gonna catch me doing any of that yoga shit again. Not as easy as it looks.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to [drjekyl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrJekyl/pseuds/DrJekyl), [boshtet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boshtet/pseuds/boshtet), [joking611](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joking611/pseuds/Joking611), and [skyham](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyllianhamster/pseuds/skyllianhamster) for the ideas/prompt and, in boshtet's case, the trope-tastic title!


End file.
